I read this in one sitting and honestly I’m extremely glad that I did. I used a lot of sticky tabs throughout this book, too!

— British humour! It’s surprising how infrequently I read books by British authors set in a realistic Britain, and it was so refreshing. It felt so realistic and the delivery of humour was excellent. It had me cracking up on numerous occasions!
— Frank discussion about periods! YES! When I was growing up, a few girls around me felt anxious that their periods hadn’t come when everyone else’s seemed to have. Seeing that portrayed in a YA novel was fantastic, and definitely a subject that isn’t discussed enough. I really enjoyed the discussion between Mia and Audrey, and the way periods were dealt with overall.
— Extremely refreshing to see parents actually in love with one another. It’s becoming increasingly frequent to see parents hating one another, with a bitchy step mother involved that makes everything complicated. It just felt so heart warming to see parents in love with one another, and definitely added a joyous time to the novel.
— Consent was a huge portion of this book too - both towards Mia and towards a male who Mia tries to kiss, but he says no. I think it’s important that this is discussed frankly, honestly and it was dealt with brilliantly. Given that this is a YA novel, the importance of its presence was evident.
— I loved the best friend element. How they argued, came back together... it was thoroughly heartwarming to see their interactions at the end. Ahhh, love.
— When I was growing up I found it so hard to figure out what my “calling” in life was. To be honest, I still struggle a little. I really appreciated that being the underlying message of the story; that there’s no rush to figure out your “calling”. I really resonated with Mia’s frustration whenever she was probed about what she was going to do in life, what her hobbies were and her aspirations. I felt like that a lot through my teenage years and honestly I wish I’d had a book like this to help guide me through that. I felt it was amazingly depicted, sensitively captured and so gut wrenching to read. The realism captured by the author is stunning, and I unarguably felt a likeness between Mia and myself. It also discussed the fact that many people have skills that they don’t realise they have and their lack of self confidence blocks them from seeing that. That was another aspect I adored and really connected with.
— The frank discussion about how oftentimes women are at risk when out. It was proven that Mia was at risk one night, and I think it was incredibly important to portray that realistically when writing a novel for such an audience with intense subject matter. I felt it was dealt with delicately, yet massively realistically.
— The ending!!! The ending stole my heart, warmed it up, turned it mushy and gave it back to me! It was gorgeous. I loved the ending and it filled me with such joy, that I can’t quite begin to describe.

Though everything in this novel was dealt with extremely well and delicately, it still can be relatively hard hitting in places — but that, by no means, was the undertone of the book. This book was funny, charming, inspiring, hilarious, witty and brilliantly written. The other themes are just an undertone woven within the story itself which gives it a massively realistic feel. I loved this story and can’t wait to go back to the parts I highlighted again. Given my history with Lisa Williamson, I had no doubt I would love this novel too — but I didn’t anticipate it becoming a firm favourite!

I would recommend this to people of all ages; but I think it is essential for young people to read it as it covers a lot of important topics. Since I’m recommending it to all young people I think it’s worthwhile adding some content warnings for: alcohol (strong use, long descriptions), mild drug mention, sex, and swearing.